Chris G wrote:What I'm wondering is this: Why isn't there a Karl Rove of the left? Just because left-leaning folks might tend to be sensitive to the needs of others doesn't mean we have to be complete fucking wimps. Fight fire with fire. Or napalm. It seems to me that the left and the right are in an all-out war, only the left ain't fighting back. I'm not spineless and weak, and I sure as shit don't want the people who work for my interests to be, either.
While I will concede that Karl Rove is... "effective," I certainly don't want his evil twin working for my cause. He is a fucker, and will stoop lower than humans should allow in order to win. He readily lies, plants false stories, exploits racism and intolerance, and obfuscates by painting those who disagree as heathens.
What makes the left better than the right, in broadest terms, is that the left is concerned with the quality of life and freedom (of thought and behavior) for individuals, including a greater respect for them in policy and political behavior. The right is (and has always been) about consolidating power for those who have an advantage already (historically, the wealthy, industrial capitalists, white people, people who are protected-by rather than targets-of law enforcement, and Christians) and punishing those who disagree with it or those whose "morals" they disagree with.
One cannot behave like Karl Rove and be true to that difference, and I would argue that if the Left ever started behaving like that, it would not be worth whatever power it could accumulate. It would be an embarrassment.
If the left ascends, it should be because the public eventually becomes more humane, and then the change will (by its nature) be more secure. Getting there by trickery would invalidate the critical difference between the left and the right. When the fuckers win, we should not react by behaving like fuckers ourselves. We should be able to highlight their fuckery and let them be their own undoing. It happened with Nixon, it happened with Gingrich, and it will happen with these fuckers eventually.